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I am looking to share sensitive documents but I don't want to send them over email. Because the document is visual, I don't care to send it via FAX either, since it won't reproduce well.
Is there a well known, reliable application that will allow two parties to do this easily?
Rhubarb
Posted 2010-07-24T21:28:27.623
Reputation: 411
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When you say without a website, I'm assuming you mean you don't have a website rather than don't want to use a website. If that is correct, dropbox might work well for you - they have an application, but you can also share documents via their web interface without installing the application. It's free to use for smaller file sizes, and prices are reasonable for more gigabytes of files.
direct00
Posted 2010-07-24T21:28:27.623
Reputation: 176
1Quite frankly, if the documents are sensitive, I wouldn't trust a third party server... You're just handling your files to another party. – Andrew Moore – 2010-07-25T04:19:41.327
+agreed... however, he doesn't appear to be TOO concerned about the sensitivity of the documents if he doesn't want to have the other party install 7zip so they can be encrypted :) – Robert S Ciaccio – 2010-07-25T06:36:44.510
1@Andrew Very good point. Depending on how sensitive the documents are it would be best to setup his own file sharing system. – direct00 – 2010-07-27T01:49:14.450
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What's wrong with email?
Zip/7z the documents with a strong password and AES-256. Attach the zip to your email, and use the phone to transmit the password...
If someone intercepts your mail, he cannot read the documents.
If someone eavesdrops on your phone, he doesn't have the documents.
Andrew Moore
Posted 2010-07-24T21:28:27.623
Reputation: 4 375
I would think 7-zip supports creating a "self-extracting" file, which will prompt the user for a passphrase. – TOOGAM – 2016-04-08T05:39:37.540
@AndrewMoore: "What's wrong with email?" Plenty, for this task. Non-encrypted SMTP has been standard for a long time. E-Mail is often backed up. Unnecessarily large E-Mails can overburden systems like backups, malware scans, and maybe even E-Mail delivery (if staff designed the systems for messages, not large files). These days, 10KB files usually work, but multi-gigabyte files may have unintended (bad) consequences. The original question didn't specify a file size, so small sizes is not currently a safe assumption. A more sensible way is using a system designed for the intended task. – TOOGAM – 2016-04-08T05:45:51.987
Good one. Not sure about asking the party to install 7z. I have it though. – Rhubarb – 2010-07-25T00:55:39.060
1Then just a regular AES-256 protected zip should do the trick. – Andrew Moore – 2010-07-25T03:04:12.460
If you can't ask the party to install something standard like 7z, you can't rely on such party do share sensitive data in first place. It all depends on how sensitive your data is. – user39559 – 2010-09-14T13:31:49.710
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There are any number of options, but if you want something that's relatively secure and fairly simple for a non-technical user to use then I suggest using Opera and it's Unite feature.
All you need do is install the Opera browser on the two machines you want to share the information between.
JoeP
Posted 2010-07-24T21:28:27.623
Reputation: 71
Good suggestion, are there any solutions that require only a website? I am not keen on asking the other party to install more software now that I think about it. – Rhubarb – 2010-07-24T22:18:51.720
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I believe Drop.io is what you're looking for.
Robert S Ciaccio
Posted 2010-07-24T21:28:27.623
Reputation: 1 470
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If you need to encrypt docs without the other party having an encryption package, why not use something like PGP and encrypt to a self decrypting archive. Exchange the passphrase by phone, SMS, email or other mechanism, then you can pass the data anyway you like - Dropbox or email or whatever, and all the other party has to do is use the passphrase to access your documents.
Rory Alsop
Posted 2010-07-24T21:28:27.623
Reputation: 3 168
1Hm, you're not keen on them installing software (7z) and you don't want a website. FedEx? – hyperslug – 2010-07-25T01:45:10.633
I didn't way I don't want to use a website, I said I don't have a website. – Rhubarb – 2010-07-25T02:51:13.563
1I think the question needs to be edited then, it reads as if you don't want to use a website. Maybe edit to:
...", without having a web server of my own?" – Robert S Ciaccio – 2010-07-25T03:40:50.857